Love in a car (The House of Love) (LP 4377 - 4385)

The House of Love  The House of Love (CD, Creation Records, 1988) ****  

The House of Love  The House of Love (CD, Fontana Records, 1990) **** 

The House of Love  The House of Love (CD, Fontana Records, 1990) ***  

The House of Love  The German Album (CD, Renascent Records, 2007) ****  

The House of Love  The John Peel Sessions 1988:1989 (CD, BBC Records, 2001) ****  

The House of Love  The House of Love (CD, Fontana Records, 1992) *****   

The House of Love  Audience with the Mind (CD, Fontana Records, 1993) ** 

The House of Love  She Paints Words In Red (CD, Cherry Red Records, 2013) **** 

The House of Love  A State of Grace (CD, Cherry Red Records, 2022) *** 

Genre: Pop-rock, indie rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Fopp, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: You Don't Understand

Gear costume: Christine, Shine On, Beatles and the Stones, Crush Me

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The House of Love is an indie rock band from London that I love. They were formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Guy Chadwick and co-founder and lead guitarist Terry Bickers. The other members on their debut album were Chris Groothuizen - bass guitar and Pete Evans - drums.

I have no idea why, but their albums are invariably just called The House of Love, which makes their discography a tad tricky to say the least. 

The debut is great. It kicks off with Christine and the band sound is tight and focused throughout. The highlights are Guy's vocals and Terry's guitars.

Second album, the one with the butterfly on the cover, had a bit of a tortured birth - taking around 2 years to record. Nevertheless, it is another excellent set of songs. The highlights for me are Beatles and the Stones, Never, Shine On (a rerecording of their debut single), and I Don't Know Why I Love You. Sadly, Terry Bickers quit the band after this one due to all sorts of conflicts, real and imagined.

A compilation, also called The House of Love (a.k.a. The Spy in the House of Love because of the cover) came out before their third proper album.

It's made up of various B-sides and other unreleased studio tracks from the period after album 2 and before album 3 (a.k.a. Babe Rainbow). The band were in a rich vein of form as most of these songs sound as wonderful as anything on the first two albums. At the time they were rejected and it's hard to understand why when I play this album.

Creation also released a compilation of singles and B-sides called The German Album. My copy is a 2007 reissue from Renascent of the 1987 Rough Trade Germany/Creation Records release, with added tracks and different track order.

Like similar albums by The Smiths (Hatful of Hollow) and Oasis (The Masterplan) - it's a terrific collection creating an alternative House of Love mosaic.

The John Peel Sessions 1988: 1989 is yet another compilation which also presents an alternative view of the band. Like The German Album it is an excellent entry point for the band as it has great songs from their prime years. The stripped back versions of some songs like Beatles and the Stones and Christine are superb!

Simon Walker replaced Terry for the third album - also called The House of Love (but known as Babe Rainbow because of the cover). This would be his only album with The House of Love. He'd be replaced by Simon Mawby.

This is the first album I owned and as such it has a special place in my affections - hence the extra star. You Don't Understand is a mighty lead off song and the rest of the album doesn't let up the quality control. This made three stunning albums in a row!

Audience with the Mind was their fourth studio album. Finally, it had a distinguishing title! Simon Mawby had departed by this time and so Guy Chadwick performed most of the guitar parts. It shows too. The songs aren't memorable, his vocals are pretty lackadaisical and the lyrics are off! 

Not surprising then, that the band would split up after its release, until 2005 when they reunited. I don't have their first album as a new House of Love band with Terry Bickers back in the band - that was Day's Run Away in 2005.

She Paints in Red (2013) was my next album by The House of Love - their sixth studio album. It's again with Terry Bickers providing his wonderful guitar and Pete Evans still on drums. Matt Jury was the latest bassist. As they've aged, the sound has become much more mellow, which is great.

AllMusic summed up the album well: House of Love are comfortable in their skin without being complacent, sounding happy, even grateful, to be writing and playing again, winding up with a record that stands alongside their '80s and '90s work quite nicely.

The final album on my list is A State of Grace, released in 2022. Only Guy Chadwick appears from the original band. The back end of the album is more like She Paints in Red, while the first half is noisy and bleak. Weird. 

Guy's lyrics are back to Audience with the Mind level cringey at times as well, but a least he's still out there, doing it, I guess. This is an album I probably wouldn't have bought if I'd heard it first. But, then again, it could have been as good as She Paints in Red, so it was worth the effort.

Where do they all belong? I'm not a completist but I'd be keen to find their first reunion album - Day's Run Away. It has Terry Bickers on it so it could be good.